The Aramis Adventure, Traveller game

[tonyz]

I'm planning to start up a Traveller campaign once Colonization draws to a close. Enough people have expressed interest, and I've been wanting to run one for a while.

So, a quick sketch of the background (and a few bits of ancient history to allow you to orient yourself.)

Three hundred thousand years ago, a still-unknown race tentatively called the Ancients visited Earth and took samples, including a number of sentient plans apes that they may have employed as servants, toys, or food. They left breeding populations on something like seventy worlds. Forty-six of them survived the Ancients' Final War.

Fifteen thousand years ago, humans on the planet Vland discovered FTL travel: the first jump drive. (Five other races are thought to have invented it independently.) They formed the First Imperium and spread out across the galaxy, assimilating other human races and subjecting dozens of non-human ones.

Three thousand years, humans on Earth discovered jump drive... and that the stars were ruled by the Vilani, also human. But the Vilani had grown decadent and bureaucratic and fossilized; by the time the local sector governor called for help from the Imperial Core in dealing with these new barbarians, it was too late. Terran innovation and energy broke the First Imperium apart.

The Second didn't last very long; the Terrans couldn't rule what they had taken, and Imperial space dissolved into a thousand, or ten thousand, minor polities. The Long Night descended, and worlds died or turned inward.

Eleven hundred years ago, President Cleon of the Sylean Federation proclaimed the Third Imperium and the restoration of peace and trade among the stars. The Pacification Campaigns lasted three hundred years, as the Third Imperium expanded outwards past the old Vilani borders in every direction. It grew, and proliferated, and so far has avoided the dulling cultural uniformity of Vland and the sociologically incompetent military rule of Terra; the Third Imperium rules the space between the stars, defending its borders and keeping the peace, but allowing considerable local autonomy. Thousands of worlds rule themselves and contribute to the Imperium; tens of thousands of ships jump between the stars, from great liners and colossal bulk carriers along the main trade lanes to little tramp starships searching among the backwater worlds for cargos.

(Think of Firefly, on a considerably larger backdrop, or the eighteenth century on Earth. Communications move no faster than travel, and jumps take a week or so, so the nearest star is a fortnight away and worlds -- and ships -- must be allowed a great deal of local autonomy. Imperial nobility, or megacorporation sector directors, are far away from their superiors. Even today the Imperium has not fully surveyed all the territory it claims, and there is much about the worlds that is not fully known.)

Recently, Plankwell Investment Trust, LLC, of Rhylanor, one of the forgeworlds of the Spinward Marches, decided to diversify its investments into off-planet shipping, and now owns a number of small freighters. But, of course, ships don't run themselves, and they need a crew to run it and seek profits in the neighboring Aramis subsector. Half of what the ship pulls in goes to them; the crew gets to keep the other half.

Welcome aboard the March Harrier.

[tonyz]

Background note: technology

The Imperial Scout Service rates technologies on a 16-point scale, ranging from '0' (just discovered fire) to '15' (top-level Imperial technology). (1)
The Aramis subsector, where the campaign takes place, is a little below maximum Imperial tech level -- its tech level generally ranges from 6 (Earth in the 1950s-1970s) to 11-13 (jump drives, anti-grav, meson guns, early cyborg implants) though some higher-level tech is available as off-world imports or occasional passing-through stuff. (Your ship can probably have some higher-tech stuff, but maintenance and replacement will be difficult.)

Nanotech in the Traveller setting is basically restricted to industrial (and medical) use.

Artificial intelligence doesn't exist (though computers can be very friendly, extended interaction makes it clear that you're not actually dealing with sentient lifeforms). The fact that several Imperial experiments to build high-functioning full-AI computers have sometimes resulted in homicidal starships is probably another reason why you can't buy sentient butler robots at the corner store, along with the Imperium's prohibition on slavery.

Medical tech is... pretty good, actually.


(1) The scale had to be modified to '16' when it was discovered that the human subspecies known as Darrians had managed to trigger a nova flare on their own sun, wrecking their civilization, and the Ancients are thought to have reached at least '27' judging by some of their unfinished engineering projects. Ringworlds, anyone?

[tonyz]

Astrography:

The Aramis subsector is on the edge of the Imperium, adjacent to the Vargr Extents and not too far from the Zhodani Consulate, comprising about 25 worlds.

The Zhodani are another of the many human races scattered across space by the Ancients. They took a different turn than Vilani cultural engineering or Solomani (Terran, 'men-from-Sol') technological inventiveness; the Zhodani delved deep into the mind and are masters of psionics. This makes them the happiest and most through-going tyranny in history, as the telepathic Thought Police keep the proles from being sad or antisocial, and the clairvoyant nobles (in theory) know everything that's going on. They have fought four Frontier Wars with the Imperium, which tends to abhor the Zhodani approach to life (an emotion much returned, as the Zhodani can't understand why the Imperium wants to let all those self-destructive emotions like pride, greed, deception, etc., etc., to exist). The Imperium finally outlawed psionic activity three hundred years ago after discovering that most Psionics Institutes inside the Imperium had been infiltrated by Zhodani agents and propagandists.

And they're only a dozen parsecs away just over the borders in the Jewell and Regina subsectors. They might have secret agents slipping into the place spying on your thoughts and sabotaging the Imperium in preparation for the next Frontier War (everyone agrees that the Fourth Frontier War thirty years ago was a skirmish that settled nothing)...

The Vargr are another example of Ancient genetic engineering: in this case those mysterious meddlers took a Terran canid pack hunting species and made it bipedal and sentient, with opposable thumbs.

They're known to have rather a temper, and to be highly individualistic; even now, Vargr tend to form packs about as large as they can smell their leader; they are much more inclined to follow personal relationships than humans.

Nobody quite knows how they managed to invent jump drive on their own. or create multi-planet governing bodies. Vargr social systems are constantly shifting and almost never stable. Everyone agrees that they make great mercenary bands for hire... and Vargr corsairs were one of the great scourges of the Long Night, ravaging sectors deep in the First Imperium.

You probably don't want to call them "Space Wolves".


There are two minor races (unlucky species that didn't manage to invent jump drive on their own and so were still stuck on one planet when the Third Imperium started colonizing local space) in the subsector: the Ebokin of Yebab (methane-breathers with a severely overgrown sense of bureaucracy) and the Dandelions of Junidy (three-legged guys with a big fuzzy head, seldom seen off their home world and rumored to be photosynthetic).

[tonyz]

Merchant ships, trade, etc.:

Exact details later, but essentially much of the Imperium's trade flows along its communication links, the X-boat routes, and a lot of the megacorporations leave the backwaters alone. This leaves room for profit for bold operators who go out and seek what might be overlooked.

Of course, not all of them find profit. Local customs vary a lot, and what might be required on one planet will earn you the death sentence the next world over. The Imperium polices the space between the stars, not the surface of worlds (unless there's a really good reason to intervene, and even then the economics of interstellar war often make it easier to work through local agents or trade quarantines rather than invasions). Sharp local traders have been known to outsmart merchant crews, and local bureaucracies tie them up in red tape that weighs more than their ship can lift. And some cargos are just dangerous -- sometimes really dangerous -- to speculate in. Easier, but less profitable, to ship someone else's freight.
But you can make a killing if you can time things right, and buy what's needed on the next world (and get it there before some megacorp ties up all the producers with thirty-year contracts...)

But there's adventure out there. And profit. And new worlds and sights. The combined lure of all three has drawn many a sentient off their home-world to the stars.

More on characters and so forth later.

[tonyz]

Basically, a trader needs a minimum crew of five:

Pilot -- flies the ship off the planet and through space out to the jump limit. Needs at least Pilot-1 skill.

Navigator -- plots hyperspace jumps. Needs at least Navigation-1 skill.

Engineer -- makes sure the power plant works, the recyclers don't break down, and that the hatches don't jam. Needs Engineer-1 (and Mechanic-1 or Electronics-1 would help, too.)

Medic -- required by Imperial law on all ships that carry passengers, either live in staterooms or frozen in low berths. Needs Medic-1.

Steward -- Prepares food for everyone (unless you want to live on emergency rations, which are specifically designed to be so tasteless that nobody can possibly make a profit stealing them and selling them), cares for passengers, soothes distressed egos, sells tacky little souvenirs of your voyage. Needs Steward-0. Will probably get overstressed if you have a full load of passengers.

You may also want someone with Gunnery skill to run the ship's weapons in case you get into a fight. Not that that would ever happen.

Someone with some business skills might be useful in locating cargos or predicting what will sell on other worlds, or any number of things.

(There are a few canned programs in the ship's computer, e.g. Legal-0 to report what is or isn't legal to import/export from a particular world, or what the local cops are likely to pull you in for, stuff like that, but, well, they're basic canned programs. "See the Imperium On Five Credits A Week" sort of thing. You may not want to trust your future business life for this sort of thing.)

It's probably possible to hire basic starship crew to fill out any empty positions. You'll have time to do that before the first jump.

[Werewolf3339]

If your going for the Firefly-style setup, it sounds like you'll also need someone who can handle a firefight on the ground also. Count me in for the campaign.

[tonyz]

I think I can safely say that there will probably be fist fights, knife fights, and the occasional firefight. Possibly even nuclear weapons, piracy, and treason, though hopefully no cases of grand spamming.

I do plan to have a fair mixture of different sorts of things going on.

Killing your rivals, however, is not the optimum recommended method in all cases. For one thing, it tends to lead to distressingly large numbers of worlds you don't ever want to return to, and for a second, if you shoot too many people, or even at the wrong people, you may one day receive an X-boat message announcing that your names, photographs, DNA profiles, and brainwave patterns have been posted on every post office wall in the Spinward Marches.

This is not to say that sometimes the appropriate reaction won't be "Eat hot flaming plasma death!" or even "Nuke them from orbit!", only that you may want to develop slightly different reflexes

But let me know what sort of campaign you want to play, and I'll do my best to run it.

[ShadowDragn]

This sounds like a lot of fun. I did enjoy Firefly so I hope this campaign will have that same feel. I look forward to it.

See ya'll on Wednesday.

[tonyz]

I'm going to try, I hope, for something of the same feel, though you folks will have to do the fun interplay between characters by yourself.

[Lord Ammon]

Hey Tony for stat generation are going to roll straigt down or can we roll a pool of six and decide where they go?

[ShadowDragn]

So...Brandon and I are playing Vargrs. And I found a couple funny things on the internet pertaining to them. But I also included a couple really funny things from the list. I'll post the link to the full 1,525 things list at the end of the post.

These are just a few excerpts from Things Mr. Welch Can No Longer Do During an RPG:

43. No longer allowed to set nazi propaganda music to a snappy disco beat.
51. No longer allowed to use the time machine for booty calls.
52. My bard does not know how to play Inna Godda Davida on marachas.
64. My paladin's battle cry is not "Good for the Good God"
73. Not allowed to name my cudgel Ceremonial Whoopass Stick.
81. A picture of my ex-wife is not an acceptable backup weapon.
83. My gnome does not like big butts and he cannot lie.
88. My bard does not get a bonus to perform if she is obviously not wearing anything under her tabard.
89. The elf's name is not Legolam.
122. The paladin's alignment is not Lawful Anal.
129. Not allowed to name my ship The Antidisestablishmentarianism.
443. Zombies are not infectious in D&D. So I should stop shooting PCs in the head if they are bitten.

and because this was getting a little long...here are the Vargr ones:

477. I cannot spay the Vargyr.
737. Will not color code everything on the ship just to piss off the Vargyr.

Here's a livejournal list I found. It's really long but really funny.

http://theglen.livejournal.com/16735.html

[tonyz]

Two Vargr characters?

Oh, my. Remind me not to let you stick your head out the window of the gravcar while racing

[Werewolf3339]

Don't worry. Part of my Flyer (gravcar) 2 training was learning how to take off the windshield so I don't need to stick my head out of the window.

[tonyz]

Are you planning to play Vargr who know each other previously (family? friends? warrior brothers? mated pair?) or who just met?

I'd like to have a joint character creation session so we can work out connections, backgrounds, who knows whom, how you got here, and why everyone is going to be running around the Aramis subsector in a merchant ship?

Anyone else interested? So far we have Heather, Brandon, Jess, and Steve.

Generally, if you want to come from the Aramis subsector you can (Plankwell Invenstments is willing to hire locals), and I'll give you some background information the other players won't have. Of course, you may also run into people who dislike you from previous acquaintance, or have local enemies who dislike you based on what world or group you're from.

Vargr could be from inside the Imperium (there are a number of Vargr worlds, or "dogtown" ghettoes on non-Vargr worlds, or just living-with-human types, under Imperial rule, or from outside the Imperium (the Vargr Extents are a huge area coreward of this portion of the Imperium). There's no legal prejudice against Vargr in the Imperium (one of the six Archdukes, Bzark of Antares Sector, is Vargr) and on average not very much unofficial prejudice (Solomani often tend to think of Vargr as 'fellow Terrans' and hence closer kin than some other aliens), but this can vary a lot, and worlds that have been attacked by Vargr corsairs, or people who have had bad experiences with particular Vargr, might think differently.

(Remember, the Imperium is Very Big -- thousands of planets, some of which have populations in the tens of billions -- and you can probably find at least one example of anything you want somewhere in its teeming masses).

[tonyz]

Note to self: make sure to have at least one ship named Antidisestablishmentarianism.

Steve: Roll six dice in order. If you don't like them, roll another set of six. This is Traveller, there are billions of characters out there among the worlds. Don't overdo it -- part of the fun is playing a relatively average character. High stats aren't as important as they are in D&D 3.5.

Another part of the fun is taking the dice as they are and seeing if you can come up with a plausible character who's fun to play.

[tonyz]

Quick note on equipment: per the rulebook you can purchase up to 2000 credits worth of equipment with your starting cash. This can be from any tech level up to TL15 (you're starting out close enough to the high-tech forgeworld of Rhylanor that you could have picked up some stuff before arriving on Aramis). Vargr characters: up to TL13 gear is available if you're from outside the Imperium.

Any other cash you have will be available once the campaign starts and you can buy stuff with it then. (You will also have stuff you received as mustering-out benefits).

Note that really high-tech gear may be difficult to maintain or replace once things get underway (most of the Aramis subsector maxes out at TL11, though the occasional higher-tech item is available from import shops in some places, or by mail order (keeping in mind that TL 15 Rhylanor and TL 13 Efate, the closest sources of such gear, are probably at least two months' travel away for anything but a very fast courier, so the turnaround time might be substantial.)

[Werewolf3339]

Can I spend money on replacement parts for my battle dress before we leave? (As in trying to have multiples of the hard-to-find delicate equipment and not worrying about the big armor plates as much since those should be easier to replace.)

[tonyz]

Sure. Grab a toolkit (p.97) for armor repair. (They don't actually list one, but it must exist and would cost and mass the same as the others, 1000 credits. Call it an "armorer's kit" or something. Includes an adequate supply of small fuses and stuff.) Battle dress skill includes knowing how to do regular maintenance on your armor, and the suit's inbuilt computer can deliver specs for replacement parts if necessary. We'll assume you're smart enough to have the computer do a data-dump to your armorer's kit with all the specs, in case the part that needs replacing is the computer itself.)

General note to all players: if you want to buy something that isn't listed in the rulebook, it's probably available in the right place. Odds are pretty good it exists somewhere in the Imperium, and if you can find (say) a catalog or something on Earth that lists it, it can probably be produced. (Note that Earth is generally TL 8, probably TL 9 or 10 when it comes to computers in Traveller terms. If you want something higher-tech, just let me know and I'll see if I can come up with a price for it.)

The Imperial credit is worth, very roughly, $2-5 US, so if you find a Soldier of Fortune catalog listing your dreamgun for $2,000 it would cost about 400-800 credits, and a $100,000 car or house would be about 15-20 kCr.

(Common abbreviations: kCr, kilocredit, 1000 credits; MCr, megacredit, 1,000,000 credits. The Imperium works on the metric system ).

Note that worlds with larger populations are more likely to have diverse production facilities and/or more imports -- you can buy TL 13 stuff on Pixie, where the only establishment on the whole planet is a robotic starship maintenance facility with a permanent population of a few hundred people, and the fabbers can deliver a lot of stuff in standard catalogs, mostly biased towards the starship repair business -- it'd be sort of like walking through the world's largest and best auto parts shop and maybe there would be some goodies at the counter. If you wanted to invent something new in the TL 13 line, or deal with a specialist, you'd want to go to Efate, which is also TL 13 but has a permanent population of several billion. If you're on Louzy, which has a population the same size as Efate's but is only TL 9, you can get lots of stuff at that tech level from the local producers, and you can probably find an import shop (or two hundred) which specialize in imports from Efate (only a jump away), but it might cost more due to transportation costs, and they might be out of it.

[tonyz]

I hope the emergency causing triple player evacuation was resolved satisfactorily...

I was thinking of dropping by the Guild this Friday afternoon to finalize character creation and run a (brief) introductory session, perhaps the stereotypical "you're all at a tavern and a fight breaks out" to test the combat rules. If anyone's interested, post here and I'll try and drop by the Guild about 2:30 PM so we can get some things done before the Wave of Magic Players fills the place up.

(I realize this is rather short notice, but it's not like we have loads and loads of open time slots to use... if anyone wants to suggest an alternate time slot, let me know.)

[ShadowDragn]

Everything's okay now. Um...if all goes according to plan (meaning Brandon called his archery teacher) then I'll have an archery lesson from 2 to 3 but after that we can be at the Guild.